Paint Yourself - Launch

Come and hear me perform some of my poems from a collection called Paint Yourself. It is being published by Arkbound - and is part of Launch for various authors and the Arkbound magazine boundless

1. Details here http://arkbound.com/community/
2. https://www.facebook.com/events/360240334323748/

9th December - all day - Bristol Energy Hub.

Mystery

Mystery isn't something that you cannot understand - it is something that you can endlessly understand.

There is no point at which you can say, 'I've got it'. Always and forever, mystery gets you!


Richard Rohr - The Divine Dance

Having just enough change is always enough

In celebration of my renewed enthusiasm for collaborative poetry and the arrival of a new season here is a poem by Ali Benning and I.

Scrabbling for change

in Ashton Court car park

Just enough left over

for Kit Kat, four fingers and coffee

Two each to dip

It sits

Between us 

Lots of foam

Perfect end to autumnal roam

Bright eyes, warm jumpers 

Zest and sweetness, timing and trust

Hands held up in gratitude

A beckoning awareness

Soothed in by stillness

Peace sharpens 

with the changing 

colour of the leaves 

Brightening steadily, blushing hues

Squeeze life back in

to the core of things

Oak and beech 

Still green, lean

On our whole

The extremity of giving hangs mid air

Colour pushed to the edges

and eventually loss, fall and fall

Twirl into a cycle of decay 

Each day life renews

The jilt and hilt of dropped leaves

The dirty nourishment into our core

A relentless rhythm,

showing us the way

Change of colour 

Skin felt 

Drunk in

The Floating

I relished taking part in the floating last week. To be given the reflective space to write in such a novel environment whilst collaborating with people from all over Bristol was a gift. We were swept up and guided by the artists prompts, the whole concept had a pleasing coherence, the in between space of the harbour was a landscape of  history yet constantly being made new by the imaginations and activity of those who live here now. If the opportunity were extended to more Britolians The Floating could become a vessel for the writing of a new story, one of a more connected community. It could permanently offer trips though the harbour, connecting people with their City and challenging the existing limits we all place on ourselves, those around us and on the landscape - through writing and sharing and paying attention.

Read it here

http://www.thefloating.co.uk/

Arundhati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Justice

The only dream worth having is to dream
that you will live while you are alive,
and die only when you are dead.
To love, to be loved.
To never forget your own insignificance.
To never get used to the unspeakable violence 
and vulgar disparity of the life around you.
To seek joy in the saddest places 
To pursue beauty to its lair. 
To never simplify what is complicated
or complicate what is simple.
To respect strength, never power.
Above all, to watch.
To try and understand.
To never look away.
And never, never to forget.